Cosence of Anecdote and Milic.

ak, have you got a cow on the coach; for if not, my malle shall be wetted, and my hardes all spoil."-After some trouble, they found out the Professor meant, had they a tarpaulin to cover the baggage, which in Freneb is called a vache, being supposed to be made of a cow's skin.

CORRESPONDENTS.

QUINTIN DICK, AND DICK QUINTIN. Mr. Quintin Dick had a large party to dinner, when a sailor knocked violently at the door, and insisted ou immediate The admission to Mr. Quintin Dick. servant supposing he had some message from Mr. D.'s relations in India, introduced him into the dining-room. Mr. Dick rose; and the Sailor, stretching out his hand, said, Is your name Quintin Dick? It is, at your service. D-mme, I'm glad of it; give us your hand, old boy-my name's Dick Quintin; and by the Powers, we'll have a drop of grog together. The effect on the company may be easily imagined. Mr. Dick took it in good humour, gave the man half-a-written, is too rapid. We shall be glad crown, and told the servants to take to hear from the author again. him to the kitchen, and give him pleaty to eat and drink.

A MAN OF LARGE PROPERTY.

Cupid's Writ, by Henri, will appear. In answer to his question, if we have more than one correspondent who signs Henri, we have to say, that we have two or three, who have complained in the same manner as himself,—we there fore advise him, to prevent errors, to sign Henri Quartre.

The Essay of Fashion, though well

Hollingberry's Poem is too long for the Portfolio.We are always ready to encourage youthful genius; and should the author not take this as a rejection of him altogether, we shall be happy to rceive his attempt "once more.

A learned Frenchman travelling Meta is informed, that in the hurry of through England in the stage-coach, sending a work of this kind to the press, with a view of publishing his travels, it is unavoidable but that some errors was very inquisitive, and asked the will creep into its pages; ; it would also names of meadows, arable land, trees, be impossible to correct them in a folhouses, cottages, &c. all which he care fowing number, as it would be a prefully noted down instanter: on crossing- cedent for all our correspondents to allSalisbury Plain, he asked what it was dress us a second time, which would Barren heath, was the reply. He re-increase our reading to an alarming expeated bis question at various distances, tent, as we already find it very difficult and always received the same answer. to get through the mass of papers subOn arranging his notes for the press,mitted to our inspection. he took occasion to exclaim against the evils of large farms, and cited, in suppart of his assertion, a district of several miles, all belonging to one individual, M. le Baron Heath, which was absolutely lying waste for want of cultiva tion, which would not be the case if M. le Baron would divide it into small allotments; but this his aristocracy, and the law of primogeniture, would not permit.

A FRENCH PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH.

"Cocheman, (said Monsieur Participe, professor of English,) Cocheman," he exclaimed in a shriller note, as they handed up his trunk on the coach at Dover, it raining violently all the time" Have you got a cow on the top of the coach ?"-"A cow ! do you take the Union for a butcher's cart?""Cart what you please, cocheman, I

We thank Jago and Sweeltooth for their good intentions, but we are sorry to say, we cannot adopt their “hints." -Lather's Hing will be resumed next week.

E. C.'s Dictionary of Origins is að cepted:-we shall be always happy to receive his lucubrations.

T. R. We feel great "apathy" to your last lines, in writing so much on the Feelings; you hare forgot those of our readers. Pluck thyself from that apathy of thine, and sympathise with us : -we know you can do better:-"Cio, and sin no more."

Obadiah; C.; W. G. B.; J. C.; T. C.; T. N. Jean; Pondeus Alphus ; are accepted, as will appear as soon as the pressure of matter will permit.

We must beg further indulgence from our Correspondents who remain unanswered,

LONDON:Printed for WILLIAM CHARLTON WRIGHT, 65, Paternoster Row, and may be had of all Booksellers and Nowomen.

The Portfolio,

Comprising

I. THE FLOWERS OF LITERATURE. II. THE SPIRIT OF THE MAGAZINES. III. THE WONDERS OF NATURE AND ART.

IV. THE ESSENCE OF ANECDOTE AND WIT. V. THE DOMESTIC GUIDE. VI. THE MECHANICS' ORACLE.

No. 22 of] FORMING ALSO No. 123 OF THE HIVE.

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1825. THE SUMMIT AND CRATER OF MOUNT

THE CONFESSIONS OF A RAMBLER.

ed to London for the purpose of engaging performers. Mr. Henry also sailed for England on the same business, and succeeded in engaging Mr. and Mrs. Hodgkinson (formerly Miss Brett of the Bath theatre,) Mrs. Wrighten, the celebrated vocalist of Drury-lane, and some others. Mr. Wignal engaged Mr. Fennel and Mrs. Merry, (formerly Miss Brunton, daughter to John Brunton, Esq. manager of the Norwich theatre, and the wife of Robert Merry, Esq. a gentleman known for his poetical effusions, which were of the Della Cruscan school,) to take the first line in tragedy; Messrs. Chalmers and Darley, from Covent-garden theatre; Mr. Blisset from Bath; Mr. Warren, Mr. and Mrs. Francis, Mrs. Oldmixon, Miss Broadhurst, Mrs. Seymour, &c. In the summer of 1793 the rival theatres opened, and the campaign was carried on with a spirit which reminded one of the contest between Rich and Garrick at Covent-garden and Drurylane. The contest, however, only continued one season, when a compromise was effected: the Philadelphia stage was abandoned to the new aspirers, and the old company went to New York, leaving Messrs. Wignal and Reinagle in undisputed possession of the theatrical sceptre at the former place.

The drama in America took its rise in Philadelphia, and from thence it soon spread throughout the United States. Theatres were built at Boston and other towns in New England; in several towns of the state of New York, in Virginia, and in the Carolinas. These were recruited with performers chiefly from England, American talent not seeming to be exactly adapted either for writing or representing dramatic pieces. At the time I visited America, the Philadelphia company had got into the hands of Messrs. Warren and Reinagle, Mr. Wignal being dead. Before his death he had, on the decease of her husband, married Mrs. Merry, who was now a second time left a widow, with one child by Wignal, a beautiful little girl. Mr. Cooper, who, after failing in London, had gone to America, where he had made a bit, and was the Kemble of the day, had the management of the New York Company; Mrs. West of the Virginia one; Mr. Placide of that which performed at Charlestown; and Mr. Powell (I believe) of that at Boston. Each of these companies had been and were possessed of performers of great talent. Mr. Hallam was himself a very clever man; but was ultimately so reduced by misfortune as to be

339

obliged to dispose of all his property in the Philadelphia and other theatres. Mr. Hodgkinson, whose name I have mentioned, was, like Garrick, an excellent general actor: he was equally clever in Shelty in the Highland Reel and in Hamlet, and so in various other characters quite as opposite. He died of the yellow fever at Washington, whither he had gone to make engagements for the New York theatre. Mr. Tully, Mr. Bermand, and Mr. Placide, at Charlestown, possessed great merit; Mrs. Hodgkinson and Mrs. Merry were accomplished actresses; and I could swell this list to a great length, were I to enumerate all the men and women of talent who had figured upon the American stage.

I have said few native Americans made the stage their profession; and still fewer attempted to write for it. A gentleman of Philadelphia, named Brett or Breck, wrote the Fox Chase, a comedy, and one or two other things, which possessed some merit and Mr. Dunlap, of New York, who purchased Hallam's share iu the theatre, was celebrated as a dramatic writer. His translation of Abellino, from the German, was really an admirable one, and reflected upon him the highest credit. Generally speaking, I found the situation of an actor rather agreeable than not; as he was admitted pretty freely into genteel society, and from the opportunity which his profession afforded him of seeing the world, and the many whimsical and outre adventures which he must continually witness, it was his own fault if he was not at once both happy and comfortable. To be sure, against this agreeable picture must be set the drawback arising from the precarious nature of popular favour, which is ever veering, and he who stands the highest to day may be at the bottom to-morrow; and a poor actor is, of all professions, perhaps the most to be pitied. Yet there is in general a great deal of humanity in the profession, which prompts the members of it to extend a helping hand to their brothers and sisters in misfortune, whenever distress renders their assistance necessary.

The mention of American writers has brought to my recollection the remarks of Mr. Henry Grey Bennett at the Surry sessions, upon that farrago of nonsense lately brought out at the Coburg theatre, under the title of the Life and Reign of George the III. Mr. Bennett justly condemned the taste which prompted the exhibition, and that which approved and applauded it; and added,

climate may, undoubtedly, be ascribed the great frequency of nervous affections, and of hypochondriacal complaints amongst us; and that sombre temperament which distinguishes Englishmen from all other Europeans.

on the

that he was sure in America such a snow. To such a variable state of our representation, with Washington for its hero, would not be tolerated. I have not the paper before me, but that was the substance of his observations. I, however, recollect seeing at Alexandria a comedy performed, the title of which I really forget, but it was founded on some occurrences arising out of the rebellion war: the time was laid about the period when the unfortunate and amiable Major André fell into the hands of the Americans, and the two soldiers by whom he was taken, and who with stood all the inducements which he held out to them to be permitted to escape, were prominent characters. Washington too was also introduced, as well as several American officers who were then living; and the piece concluded with the apotheosis of the general, who was taken up into heaven, not in a cocked hat and top-boots, as the Coburg dramatist has sent our late excellent King there, but painted with a blood-red countenance, long straight hair, and a blue coat and epaulettes, upon a large piece of canvas, about ten feet square. Thus portrayed, the general was drawn up to the flies, amidst the shouts of the audience, the band playing "Yankee doodle."

General

I cannot conclude all I have to say on the theatres in this paper; I shall therefore cut this portion of my "Confessions" rather short, and in the next give your readers an account of the Philadelphia company as it was when I knew it, with a few anecdotes of some of the performers.

ATMOSPHERICAL CAUSE OF

BLUE DEVILS.

No inhabitants of the earth are more atmospherical, if we may be permitted to employ such a term, than Englishmen; and, perhaps, in no other part of the habitable globe is there so changeable an atmosphere as that which hangs over this, our otherwise happy and highlyfavoured, island. Days occur, in which almost every temperature, and kind of weather, that characterize the four seasons of the year, are experienced. The morning gilds the meads and vales with the rising beams of the orb of light, rolling onwards in an unclouded sky, warm and cheering, and every springing blade and flower pendent with glittering dew-drops; before noon the face of nature is changed, the sky overcast, the air chilling and wintry; and, ere the day be closed, the earth is deluged with rain, or the evening approaches with severe frost and a fall of

As the constitution of England is as barometrical as the climate is variable, a regular fit of blue devils is the consequence, to many individuals, whenever the sky is overcast, and the imsphere damp and chilly; an effect depending chiefly on the sympathy between the skin and the digestive organs, and the influence which these exert functions of the brain and respiratory nerves. Every case of indigestion, therefore, which is not of a very transitory nature, and is accompanied with hypochondriasis, is affected by atmospherical influence, in the following manner. The dampness of the air applied to the skin diminishes its nervous energy, lowering its tone, and preventing the supply of blood being carried into the extreme vessels, in which its presence is requisite for maintaining healthy the cutaneous functions. By sympathy the power of the stomach is diminished in a similar manner; its secretions are inadequate to the change, which they are intended to produce on the food before it is pushed forward into the intestines; and, thence, the aliment, instead of being converted into proper chyle, ferments, extricating air, distending the stomach, and impending the breathing. It is this derangement of the respiratory functions which chiefly lowers the energy of the brain, and produces that depression of spirits which alwaysaccompanies this state of the habit in gloomy weather. In this morbid constitution of the vital organs just mentioned, the liver and the spleen are more or less involved, as is also the pancreas, a large important gland connected with the upper intestines; so that every part of the constitution suffers, by the loss of that due balance in all the functions which is essential for the preservation of health. To the derangement of so many important organs are to be attributed the sallow hue of the skin, the emaciation of the body, the sensibility to cold and other external impressions, the irritability of temper, the vacillating character, and the unhappy and wretched disposition of the hypochondriac. An attack of the blue devils, therefore, as it is termed, is neither an imaginary disease, nor is one which can be remedied merely by moral management; although this, when judiciously applied, will greatly aid the medical treatment.